Plagiarism Is the Most Common Form of Examination Offence Encountered in Universities

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the most common form of examination offence encountered in universities, partly because of the emphasis now placed on work prepared by students unsupervised in their own time, but also because many students fall into it unintentionally, through ignorance of what constitutes plagiarism. Even if unintentional, it is still considered an examination offence.

This section of the Handbook is intended to explain clearly what plagiarism is, and how students can avoid it. Acknowledgement is made to guidance issued by the USA Modern Language (MLA, 1998).

Plagiarism is the publication of borrowed thoughts as original, or in other words, passing off someone else’s work as your own. In any form, plagiarism is unacceptable at SGUL, as it interferes with the proper assessment of students as to their suitability to become doctors (which is a responsibility that SGUL has to the public at large). It is behaviour which is particularly unacceptable in students who are intending to join a profession which aspires to the highest ethical standards.

Plagiarism has been defined as “the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind, and presenting it as one’s own” (Lindey, 1952, p2). Therefore, using another person’s ideas or expressions or data in students’ writing without acknowledging the source is to plagiarise.

It is acceptable, in students’ work, to use the words and thoughts of another person or data that another person has gathered but the borrowed material must not appear to be the students own creation. This includes essays, practical and research reports written by other students including those from previous years, whether the student has their permission or not. It also applies to both ‘hard-copy’ material such as books as well as electronic material, such as internet documents. Examples include copying someone else’s form of words, or paraphrasing another’s argument, presenting someone else’s data or line of thinking.

This form of plagiarism may often be unintentional, caused by making notes from sources such as books or journals without also noting the source, and then repeating those notes in an essay without acknowledging that they are the data, words or ideas belonging to someone else. Students should guard against this by keeping careful notes that distinguish between their own ideas and researched material and those obtained from others. Students should then acknowledge the source.

Example 1

Original source:

To work as part of a team, to be able and prepared to continue to learn throughout one’s career, and, most important, to take on board both care for the individual and the community, are essential aspects of a doctor’s role today.

Greengross, Sally (1997), “What Patients want from their Doctors”, Choosing Tomorrow’s Doctors, ed. Allen I, Brown PJ, Hughes P, Policy Studies Institute, London.

Plagiarism:

The essential aspects of a doctor’s role today are to work as part of a team, be able and prepared to continue to learn throughout one’s career, and, most importantly, to take on board both care for the individual and the community.

Acceptable:

One social writer believes that the essential aspects of a doctor’s role today are “to work as part of a team, to be able and prepared to continue to learn throughout one’s career, and, most important, to take on board both care for the individual and the community” (Greengross, 1997).

Example 2

Original source:

The binary shape of British higher education, until 1992, suggested a simple and misleading, dichotomy of institutions. […] Within their respective classes, universities and polytechnics were imagined to be essentially homogenous. Their actual diversity was disguised. [….] The abandonment of the binary system, whether or not it encourages future convergence, highlights the pluralism which already exists in British Higher Education.

Scott, Peter (1995), The Meanings of Mass Higher Education, SRHE and Open University Press, Buckingham, p43.

Plagiarism:

Prior to the removal of the binary divide between polytechnics and universities in 1992, there was a misleading appearance of homogeneity in each sector. Now there is only one sector, the diversity of institutions is more apparent, even if convergence may be where we’re heading.

Acceptable:

Peter Scott has argued that prior to the removal of the binary divide between polytechnics and universities in 1992, there was a misleading appearance of homogeneity in each sector. Now there is only one sector, the diversity of institutions is more apparent, even if convergence may be where we’re heading. (Scott, 1994)

In each revision, the inclusion of the author’s name acknowledges whose ideas these originally were (not the student’s) and the reference refers the reader to the full location of the work when combined with a footnote or bibliography. Note that in the second example, the argument was paraphrased – but even so, this is plagiarism of the idea without acknowledgement of whose idea this really is. In the first example, note that where the exact words of the author are used, inverted commas are inserted to demonstrate the use of a verbatim quote.

In writing any work (whether for assessment or not), students should document everything that they borrow – not only direct quotations and paraphrases but also information and ideas. There are, of course, some common-sense exceptions to this, such as familiar proverbs, well-known quotations or common knowledge. But students must indicate the source of any appropriated material that readers might otherwise mistake for the students. If in doubt, students must cite the source/s, and discuss the referencing with their tutor or supervisor.

The library provides two excellent guides that may help students employ a better referencing technique and avoid allegations of plagiarism. The guides are titled ‘Harvard system’ and ‘Vancouver system’ and can be found in hard copy in the Library, or on-line at

Copying material verbatim

Another example of plagiarism is the verbatim copying of chunks of material from another source without acknowledgement even where they are accepted facts (such as a list of symptoms). This is because students are still borrowing the phrasing and the order and the idea that this is a correct and complete list. Also, students might be infringing copyright (see below).

Re-submission of work

Another form of plagiarism (called ‘Re-submission’ in the Regulations) is submitting work the student previously submitted before for other assessment. While this is obviously not the same as representing someone else’s ideas as their own, it is a form of self-plagiarism and is another form of cheating. If students wish to re-work a paper for an assessment, they should consult their teacher as to whether it is acceptable, and acknowledge the re-working in a preface.

Collaboration and collusion

In collaborative work (if this is permitted by the teacher) joint participation in research and writing does not constitute plagiarism in itself, provided that credit is given for all contributions. One way would be to state in a preface who did what; another, if roles and contributions were merged and truly shared, would be to acknowledge all concerned equally. However, where collaborative projects are allowed at SGUL, it is usually a requirement that each individual’s contribution and work is distinguishable, so students should check with their teacher. Usually, collusion with another student or a prior student on assessed work (such as sharing chunks of writing or copying bits from each other) is NOT allowed – this is “Copying and Collusion” under the Regulations.

Copyright infringement

Finally, students must guard against copyright infringement. Even if they acknowledge the source, reproducing a significant portion of any document (including material on the Internet) without permission is a breach of copyright, and a legal offence. Students may summarise, paraphrase and make brief quotations, but more than this risks infringing copyright.

Plagiarism Detection Software

SGUL uses the Turnitin UK service to screen for plagiarism in work submitted for assessment, and reserves the right to do so for any work students complete. If asked, students are required to submit the electronic version of any work submitted for assessment. Any piece of assessment may be subject for submission for textual similarity review to iParadigms for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted documents are included as source documents in the iParadigms reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin UK service shall be subject to the Terms and Conditions of Use as may be agreed between iParadigms and SGUL and posted on the Turnitin UK site.

This advice has been provided by the Academic Registrar’s office. However, if you would like further information or training in the area of referencing and preventing plagiarism, please contact Mrs Judith Scammell, in the Library at , or by telephone (0208 725 0854).

References:

Modern Language Association (1998), Guide for Writers of Research Papers (4th edition), MLA, New York

Lindey, A (1952), Plagiarism and Originality, Harper, New York.